People who can't do believable voices.

[Neil]

Peter Serafinowicz can't do a decent comedy voice.  I also think the same of Matt Lucas, the majority of the time he makes me climb the bloody walls.

Darrell told me that Peter S can do voices, he used to be an impressionist, and I think that may be the problem.  That's how he's playing his parts in the like of 15 Storeys High and IAP 2, isnt it?  As an impressionist rather than a comedy actor.  There's just something terribly unbelievable about Peter S and Matt Lucas.  

Does anyone else find people obviously putting on voices to be distracting and annoying?  It's fine with, for instance, the pepperpots in Monty Python, but in a sitcom it drives me to distraction. ()Having said that, Lucas' voice does annoy me in sketch show stuff too.  Maybe I just can't stand the two pricks, or maybe I should fuck off back to my naturalistic yank comedies, eh?)

[Partridge's Love Child]

Yup, you've hit upon a particular bugbear of mine here, young [ib]Neil[/b].  It's fucking RADA acting and I despise it.  All silly walk silly talk acting - James Dreyfuss is a prime example, all extraneous gestures and over-the-top vocal.  It's a cheap and easy way of getting a laugh, almost like putting a sign above your head saying "I'm a comedy character".  That screechy bint and the camp fellow in Will & Grace make me want to eat glass, and don't even get me started on Brenda Fucking Blethyn.

I do think that hamming it up, which is what it is, is fine in certain situations, but Blethyn, Dreyfus and Jane Horrocks do it all the time.  Every part is a stupid voice, and everyone seems to lap it up, whereas it really shows them to be one-dimensional and in truth it's bad acting, plain and simple.  You shouldn't be able to see an actor acting, you should just see the character.

Having said that, I've been catching up with Shameless on the repeat run and I'm very impressed with Maxine Peake.  I've only ever seen her do stupid voice acting - on dinnerladies [sic.] and the like.  However, I think she's playing a very boisterous and loud character with tremendous subtley.  It would've been easy for her to go silly with it, but she hasn't.

Regardless of everything I've just said, yer gotta love Vulva.

[Jemble Fred]

I'm personally very jealous of Serafinowicz's vocal talents, not least for the cash it earns him. And as for Lucas, he's from the Vic & Bob school of daft voices.

You shouldn't be able to see an actor acting, you should just see the character.

Sorry, I had to laugh at that. Bob Mortimer's portrayal of Lovejoy was a complete transformation, wasn't it? I really thought it was Ian McShane. You might think this is an unfair example, but we're talking about comedy here, surely? And I think Vic & Bob had a huge effect on comedy performance - getting laughs is what matters, not the depth of the portrayal. Unless you're talking about Shameless, which is a comedy drama.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Yes, I did cringe as I typed it, but couldn't think of a better way to put it.

I think you've misunderstood me slightly.  I did say there's a time to play silly buggers - and thanks for reminding me of Bob's Lovejoy because that'll keep me amused all day - but there's actors/performers who can do little else.  I don't actually know what James Dreyfus' real voice sounds like, because he's always twatting about being a camp idiot.

Oh dear, I've not explained myself very well have I.  Again.  Nevertheless, kill the Blethyn.

[elderford]

What about comedians who have naturally silly voices: JOE PASQUALE?

[TotalNightmare]

What about comedians who have naturally silly voices: JOE PASQUALE?

...and don't forget Emo Phillips... he speaks like a yawning peacock...


huhuhuhuhuh...peacock.

that's rude.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Surely Emo doesn't really talk like that.

I saw Emo Phillips at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago.  The material was superb, but I couldn't help but feel that the character doesn't work anymore.  He's a bit heavier than he used to be, and his hair is greying and spiky so he longer looks like a paedophile.  As a result all that twisty arm physicality doesn't seem to sit right.  It looks affected, whereas the weedy Emo suited it.

I still laughed my arse off, like.  Can't help but feel he's a bit off a forgotten hero of comedy.

[Rats]

That's not his real voice though. He speaks with his normal voice now and isn't as funny because of it.

[TotalNightmare]

A yawning peacock is perfectly valid...

and yes, he is a forgotten hero of comedy... in my humble opinion.

[Munday's Chylde]

EMO QUOTES!

The toughest time...in anyone's life...is when you have to kill a loved one
just because they're the devil.

I'm from Downers Grove, Illinois. We had a blackout there the other day,
but fortunately the police made him get back into his car before he got too
far.

I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the little children jump
up and down and run around yelling and screaming...They don't know I'm only
using blanks.

[Purple Tentacle]

I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the little children jump
up and down and run around yelling and screaming...They don't know I'm only
using blanks.

Yet another joke scrumped by Victor Lewis Smith.

[thatmuch]

Surely Emo doesn't really talk like that.

I saw Emo Phillips at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago.  The material was superb, but I couldn't help but feel that the character doesn't work anymore.  He's a bit heavier than he used to be, and his hair is greying and spiky so he longer looks like a paedophile.  As a result all that twisty arm physicality doesn't seem to sit right.  It looks affected, whereas the weedy Emo suited it.

That's interesting. He was a very physical comedian I suppose.

I still laughed my arse off, like.  Can't help but feel he's a bit off a forgotten hero of comedy.

Absolutely. I don't like stand-up comedy but I thought he was brilliant. All I've got left of him is a video shot at the 'Hasty Pudding Theatre' at Harvard, where I think he toned down the more painfully funny bits of his act to suit the preppy audience. I would love to have more footage of him really plumbing the depths.

"When I was born, my mother said they threw away the mold.
Some of it grew back."

(Sorry, needed American spelling.)

[Darrell]

Emo Philips was last seen playing the clarinet in the big all-star Neil Innes concert in LA last year. I have a soundboard bootleg of the gig which I'd eventually like to get ripped and hosted.

As for the voices thing, I think both Serafinowicz and Lucas are great - they do COMEDYEEEE and play things for LAUGHS, which is all I could ask for.

[Russ]

All I've got left of him is a video shot at the 'Hasty Pudding Theatre' at Harvard, where I think he toned down the more painfully funny bits of his act to suit the preppy audience. I would love to have more footage of him really plumbing the depths.

I have two Emo CDs in my Soulseek shares. RussellC is the username. If anyone has more stuff I would love it.